The Green Fee Over the winter I noticed a big issue popping up in my swing especially with the driver. My hands were starting to get a little too active. I was hitting low snap hooks. Any efforts to fix the issue just led to a high weak “fade”. At the PGA Show I had a meeting with the guys at JumboMax. After reading some of the information and asking some questions I decided it could be the answer to my issues. I went and bought the grip and had it installed on a Cleveland TL 310 with a UST Mamiya HeLIUM 4F4. All comaprisons are to a PING G410 with a UST Mamiya LINQ Prototype with a Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus 4 standard
Feel
This is where you are going ot see the most negative reviews from most people. The feel of the grip is not my favorite. Ive never been a fan of the Polyurethane type grips. Grips like Winn and Superstroke dont feel right to me but for a performance gain I can deal with it. I understand why they cant use rubber though. A rubber grip at this size would be impossible to swing weight. It would weigh way too much.
Now lets clear the elephant in the room. I got the medium size ultralight and this thing is massive. I wont lie to you, it feels…unique. It feels thicker than a baseball bat. I didnt hate it. I didnt love it but it didnt feel as bad as I thought it might. It did feel more secure in my hands. The grip is designed to be held more in the palm. I have always leaned towards having the club in my palms but this was pretty extreme. It almost felt wrong to be holding this with a golf grip. It did take some time to get used to but honestly after a few swings it didnt feel bad.The other thing I felt was that I seemed to be much more aggressive on every swing. I could really grip it and rip it. I felt myself doing the long drive swing recoil. If youre picky about feel on the golf club this may not be the grip for you.
Results- Simulator
Going into this I full expected the PING to go further since it is newer and has a little more tech so I didnt count distance as a big factor. JumboMax touts consistency and dispersion a lot so I really wanted to test this out more than distance. I took 10 shots with each club.
My first few shots with the PING were a little crazy but performed about how I expected. It launched left and moved left. The shots averaged about 15 yrds left from center. They ranged from 32 yrds left to 11 yrds right. So overall we were looking at a dispersion of 43 yards. Which that sounds about right compared to what I see out on the course.
With the JumboMax I noticed some differences for sure. I was actually pretty surprised to see the results. It did work as advertised but maybe not as much as I was hoping for. I still hit the occasional snap hook but the dispersion was better. I found the ball launched a little further right and that helped keep the draw and hook under control a little. The shots ranged from 28 yrds left to 13 yrds right. Total dispersion was 41 yards. At the end of the day it wasnt a huge difference but it did push it a little further right.
Results- Range and Course
We can talk simulator numbers all we want to but its all about performance in the real world. The first real world test came on the range side by side vs the PING with the standard grip. If we are being honest it didnt feel straighter or more consistent. The dispersion between the two seemed very similar. Both were easy to snap hook. I did find the JumboMax build was easier to control the clubface. If I wanted to hit a slice/cut I could open that face up a little easier. The other thing I noticed was the fact the ball came out SIGNIFICANTLY lower with the Jumbomax gripped driver.
Out on the course everything I was seeing on the range and simulator also turned out to be true. I found myself slightly closer to the middle but nothing game changing. The lower ball flight was nice in the windy Dallas weather but I dont know if it was enough to change everything up.
Conclusion
Overall I didnt notice a HUGE difference between the standard grip and the JumboMax. I am not a big “feel” guy. I am not picky about grips, swing weight, looks. I am willing to take a chance if I see a big performance gain. While there was some performance game I dont think I would regrip my entire set and play with these exclusively. I dont think the difference in performance would work out as much in my irons so regripping just the driver would feel so vastly different from my other clubs I dont think Id do that.It seems like something you should jump fully in or dont do it at all. Im not ready for that level of commitment but I do think there could be something to it!